Woman stung by scorpion on Air India flight

New Delhi, May 6

In a likely first-of-its-kind incident in the history of aviation in India, a passenger was stung by a scorpion on an Air India flight when it was cruising at a height of 35,000 ft.

The carrier described the incident as “extremely rare and unfortunate”.

While rodents and cockroaches have been spotted on domestic flights in India in the past, this was the first instance of a passenger getting stung by a scorpion. The victim, a woman passenger, was flying to Mumbai from Nagpur in a late evening flight when she was stung. The incident took place on April 23.

“There was an extremely rare and unfortunate incident involving a scorpion biting a passenger on board our flight AI 630 on April 23. On landing, the passenger was attended to by a doctor at the airport and subsequently treated at a hospital and discharged. Our officials accompanied the passenger to the hospital and offered all support till discharge. We sincerely regret the agony and inconvenience caused to the passenger,” Air India said in a statement on Saturday.